Wheeled toy with sounding rasp and rotating head member

ABSTRACT

A push-pull wheeled toy having a body mounted on rotary axles carrying ground wheels and with one of the axles having an offset portion, a head journaled on a vertical axis on the front portion of the body, a sound mechanism disposed within the body, and a link within the body connected to said axle offset portion to be moved thereby and connected to the head and sound mechanism to operate the same.

United States Patent 11 1 Zbikowski et al. 14 1 Aug. 7, 1973 WHEELED TOY WITH SOUNDING RASP 1,701,734 2/1929 Stephens 46/98 AND ROTATING HEAD MEMBER 672,320 4/1901 Ford 74/50 X manor; 5 maiiaienizrimswmirl911151111;

Ronald R. Pauly, Mound, both of Minn. Assign'ee'i Tonka Corporation, Minneapolis,

Minn.

Appl. No.: 246,336

US. Cl. 46/107, 46/112 int. Cl A6311 5/00 Field of Search 46/111, 112, 113,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 911921 Hartleb et al..-. 46/99 Primary ExaminerF. Barry Shay Attorney-Carlsen, Carlsen & Sturm [57] ABSTRACT moved thereby and connected to the head and sound mechanism to operate the same.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures WHEELED TOY WITH SOUNDING RASP AND ROTATING HEAD MEMBER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention herein relates generally to miniature wheeled toys of the push-pull type used primarily by very young children in the age range of 6, months to about 3 years and more particularly to such toys which have some degree of animation. Certain prior art toys are provided with sound mechanisms or mechanisms for oscillating or rotating certain toy components. The present invention provides a single mechanism driven by the ground wheels creating both sound and component movement within the toy to give the toy an animated character.

SUMMARY OF' THE INVENTION The primary object of the invention is to provide a push-pull type wheeled toy with a head mounted in the drivers compartment and with a mechanism within the body of the toy for moving the head and simultaneously creating a sound as the toy is pushed or pulled over a floor surface.

With this and other objects in view the invention broadly comprises a hollow body mounted on a pair of wheel carrying axles, one of which has an offset portion to rotate as a crank when the toy is moved over a floor surface, an oscillatable head mounted for movement about a vertical axis on the front of the toy, a noise mechanism within the body, and a link member connected to the head and noise mechanism and being actuated by the said axle offset portion to oscillate the head and create a noise when the toy is so moved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the animated wheel toy.

FIG. 2 is an inverted plan view of the toy.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section through the toy taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and with the animation mechanism in a first position.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 3 but with the mechanism in a second position.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal section through the toy taken on line 55 of FIG. 4 and looking upwardly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawings reference numerals will be used to denote like parts or structural features in the different views. The body of the toy is denoted generally at and comprises a hollow preferably plastic enclosure formed of mating molded complementary halves meeting along a longitudinal vertical center plane through the body. The body halves may be held together and strengthened laterally by means of forming various pins 11 integral with one half which fit into various aligned sockets 12 formed integrally with the other half.

The front portion of the body 10 is configured so as to have an upwardly and forwardly curved support 15 extending forwardly over a ledge 16 leaving a forwardly opening recess 17 therebetween which simulates a fanciful driver s compartment. A shaft 18 having a washer element 19 mounted near its lower end has its upper end journaled in an aperture 20 provided in the lower wall 21 of support 15 and its lower end journaled in an aperture 22 provided in the upper wall 24 of the ledge 16. A bulbous element 25 which may simulate a head having a face 26 on the front side is mounted integrally on shaft 18 resting on washer element 19. Element 25 is formed of relatively soft flexible material so that the facial expression may be changed by squeezing. A small crank arm 27 extends laterally from the lower end of shaft 18.

A rectangular opening 30 is provided in the bottom of body 10. This opening communicates with forward and rearward pairs of downwardly opening slots denoted respectively at 31 and 32 which are provided in the side walls of body 10. A rear axle 34 having spherical wheels 35 fixedly mounted on each end thereof is disposed in slots 32 to form a set of rear wheels for the toy with axle 34 being rotatable in slots 32. The front axle 36 has a central offset portion 37 and carries spherical wheels 38 at each end, the axle being journaled in slots 31.

The axles 34 and 36 are locked in their respective slots by means of a closure door 39 which snaps into the opening 30. This door has side flanges 40 which hold the axles in the top of the notches.

It will be understood that as the toy is pushed or pulled along a floor surface the wheels and axles will rotate and that the offset portion 37 will move in an orbital path about the axis of axle 36.

Closure door 39 has a resilient tongue 41 extending upwardly therefrom and centered transversely thereon. This tongue may be bent forwardly or backw'ardly but the bending movement is limited by base members 42 formed at the front and rear of the tongue.

A plurality of longitudinally spaced wall members are formed within the lower portion of body 10. These are in transversely mating pairs denoted at 44, 45 and 46. These members are provided with horizontally aligned slots 47 to jointly provide a longitudinally extending slideway for an elongated link member 48. Member 48 has an offset portion 49 at its forward end which has a slot 50 receiving a pin 51 mounted on the end of crank arm 27.

Link 48 has a fork 54 extending downwardly and engaging opposite sides of the offset portion 37 of axle 36. Accordingly, as axle 36 rotates the portion 37 during its orbital movement will cause link 48 to reciprocate back and forth in the slots 47 between the positions shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 causing shaft 18 to oscillate and turn the head 25 from side to side.

Just to the rear of fork 54 the link 48 is provided with a rasp section 55 on its underside which engages against the tip of tongue 41. Accordingly, as the link moves back and forth the section 55 will move along the tongue causing the tip thereof to snap across the teeth in the section causing a rasping or clicking noise.

A loop 57 is formed on the underside of ledge 16 for the purpose of tying a cord 58. to pull the toy over the floor surface and as the toy is pulled link 48 being moved by axle 36 will cause'the head 25 to turn left and right while a sound is created by tongue 41.

Wheels 35 and 38 are preferably provided with an outer cover or tire of soft resilient material such as rubber to assure rotation of the wheels when the toy is pushed or pulled over the floor surface. Various components may be mounted on body 10 to the rear of support 15 to enhance the appearance or functional aspects of the toy.

Having now therefore fully illustrated and described our invention, what we claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a push or pull toy,

a. an elongated hollow body,

b. at least one axle extending transversely through the body and journaled therein and having a ground wheel fixedly mounted at each end so that the axle rotates with the wheels,

c. said axle having a portion thereof between the wheels and within the body offset from the wheel axis to move in an orbital path around the wheel axis as the wheels rotate,

d. a bulbous head member mounted on a shaft journaled on the body for movement about a vertical axis, the lower end of the shaft carrying a crank arm within the body,

e. means forming a slideway within the body,

f. a link mounted in the slideway for fore and aft sliding movement longitudinally of the body and having a fork holding the offset portion of the axle therein and one end of the link being pivoted to the crank arm to transmit said orbital movement of said axle portion to oscillating movement of the head member during such fore and aft movement as the wheels are rotated by movement over a floor surface, 4

g. a resilient tongue being mounted within the body,

and

h. said link having a rasp section thereon positioned to move along said tongue to create a rasping sound during both the fore and aft movements of the link. 

1. In a push or pull toy, a. an elongated hollow body, b. at least one axle extending transversely through the body and journaled therein and having a ground wheel fixedly mounted at each end so that the axle rotates with the wheels, c. said axle having a portion thereof between the wheels and within the body offset from the wheel axis to move in an orbital path around the wheel axis as the wheels rotate, d. a bulbous head member mounted on a shaft journaled on the boDy for movement about a vertical axis, the lower end of the shaft carrying a crank arm within the body, e. means forming a slideway within the body, f. a link mounted in the slideway for fore and aft sliding movement longitudinally of the body and having a fork holding the offset portion of the axle therein and one end of the link being pivoted to the crank arm to transmit said orbital movement of said axle portion to oscillating movement of the head member during such fore and aft movement as the wheels are rotated by movement over a floor surface, g. a resilient tongue being mounted within the body, and h. said link having a rasp section thereon positioned to move along said tongue to create a rasping sound during both the fore and aft movements of the link. 